"TikTok’s Chinese parent company faces a ban in the US next month as a result of a federal appeals court ruling Friday, ratcheting up a political clash over the wildly popular video-sharing app.
A three-judge panel in Washington unanimously upheld a new US law, ruling that it didn’t violate free speech protections under the Constitution’s First Amendment. Unless the company is sold, the decision leaves the Supreme Court as the company’s last realistic hope for stopping the ban from taking effect on Jan. 19.
TikTok indicated in a statement on X that it will appeal and expects the justices will side with them on the free-speech issue. “Unfortunately, the TikTok ban was conceived and pushed through based upon inaccurate, flawed and hypothetical information, resulting in outright censorship of the American people,” according to the statement.
Although the ban kicks in the day before President-elect Donald Trump is inaugurated, his opposition to it could still complicate its enforcement. Trump spoke out against a ban as he courted younger Americans in his campaign despite trying to force its sale during his first term.
dom from a foreign adversary nation and to limit that adversary’s ability to gather data on people in the United States.”
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